Whew! What a summer we had. It's been too long since I've updated this site! I will be adding pictures, videos, and more details about our great first season here at WPCG.
For the time being, I'll say: exciting things are happening! We are in the midst of planning a huge expansion and revamp of our garden. Stay tuned for more!
If you would like to get involved in this planning, please email walkerparkcommunitygarden@gmail.com
-Andrea
PS: Check out the Fayetteville Community Garden Coalition's snazzy new site! http://fayettevillegardens.org/wp/ (there we are on the front header!)
09 September 2011
19 April 2011
Upcoming Events at WPCG
Exciting things are happening at Walker Park Community Garden!
On Saturday, April 23rd, local grower Mark Cain of Dripping Springs Garden is giving a free workshop about the basics of organic gardening. Come learn about irrigation methods and planting from an expert who has been professionally growing in this area for over twenty years. This workshop is free and open to the public, so invite you're friends! A great way to culminate Earth Week. Workshop begins at 4 pm at the Garden site. If you're a plot holder at the garden, be there at 3:30 for a brief meeting. After the instruction, we'll be working in the garden, so come ready to get your hands dirty!
www.drippingspringsgarden.com
On Saturday, April 30th, ten volunteers from WPCG are assisting a local community member and veteran begin a garden space in his backyard. We will be double digging the site, pulling weeds, and planting some starts. The space is small, so we only need about 10 people. If you are interested in helping out, email walkerparkcommunitygarden@gmail.com and let us know. Work begins at 8am sharp!
Walker Park Community Garden is officially full! All of our individual plots have been claimed. As always, anyone and everyone is welcome to spend time working in the Community Plot. If you're interested in growing food with other people this season, you can check out the Fayetteville Community Garden Coalition's list of other community gardens in the area where you can get involved! Check it out!
We hope to see you soon.
-Andrea
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| Dripping Springs Garden, July 2010. Photo by Michelle Leatherby |
www.drippingspringsgarden.com
On Saturday, April 30th, ten volunteers from WPCG are assisting a local community member and veteran begin a garden space in his backyard. We will be double digging the site, pulling weeds, and planting some starts. The space is small, so we only need about 10 people. If you are interested in helping out, email walkerparkcommunitygarden@gmail.com and let us know. Work begins at 8am sharp!
Walker Park Community Garden is officially full! All of our individual plots have been claimed. As always, anyone and everyone is welcome to spend time working in the Community Plot. If you're interested in growing food with other people this season, you can check out the Fayetteville Community Garden Coalition's list of other community gardens in the area where you can get involved! Check it out!
We hope to see you soon.
-Andrea
28 March 2011
Dig Day Video
After much frustration with compatibility and video converting, here is the video of Dig Day on February 27th, created by our own Frou Gallagher. Enjoy!
Special thanks to Derek Linn for file conversion expertise.
-Andrea
Special thanks to Derek Linn for file conversion expertise.
-Andrea
05 March 2011
Only the Beginning: Dig Day
Last Sunday, February 27th, residents from all over Fayetteville came together to officially build the Walker Park Community Garden.
Organizers came out around 11 to start setting up. We laid down cardboard as an organic way to stop the pesky johnson grass that covers the site. We were soon joined by neighbors who were passing through and stopped to help.
The ceremony began with a message from Lisa Netherland, horticulturist for the City of Fayetteville, and Mayor Lioneld Jordan, and City Councilwoman Brenda Thiel. Then, our team of garden organizers, along with the city officials, cut the bright green ribbon and Dig Day officially began!
We built four 40-by-4 foot beds, with walkways in between, marked off with twine and metal stakes. Volunteers divided into teams to work on each of the four beds. We began by filling each bed with 8 inches of top soil.
Then, we added four inches of beautiful compost from the city.
And then - in what seemed like no time at all but was actually 5 hours from beginning to end - we were done!
The most wonderful thing about this especially wonderful day was the attitude everyone brought to the garden. This truly was a community effort; people from all walks of life came out because they wanted to help. Among the 70+ people who came to Dig Day were senior citizens, kids from Fayetteville High School's National Honors Society and Teen Leadership X-perience, UofA students, parents, teachers, and everyone in between, from all over Fayetteville. Greenhouse Grille donated a delicious spread of Greek food and Arsaga's Espresso Cafe donated coffee and water. One kind man even gave out free massages for our achy workers!
Dig Day was also the official beginning of registration for individual plots at the garden. About 20 of the 30 plots were claimed, but we still have 10 left! If you are interested in gardening with us this year, please email walkerparkcommunitygarden@gmail.com. And be sure to come to our meeting tomorrow, March 6th at 2pm at our newly constructed garden site, right next to the Fayetteville Senior Activity and Wellness Center.
Our Dig Day truly would not have been possible without the help from all of our volunteers and the generous support from Ozark Natural Foods. This day truly brought together this community, and it was fantastic.
Organizers came out around 11 to start setting up. We laid down cardboard as an organic way to stop the pesky johnson grass that covers the site. We were soon joined by neighbors who were passing through and stopped to help.
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| One of the many moments the wind gave us a scare - By Tracey Haynes |
The wind kept uprooting our cardboard, so we began covering the area with a thin layer of top soil.
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| By Tracey Haynes |
We finished marking off the beds right around 1 p.m., when the official ceremony began. A crowd of volunteers, armed with shovels and gloves, had already formed around the edges of the site, waiting to help. We hadn't even noticed. Suddenly, it was time to start!
We built four 40-by-4 foot beds, with walkways in between, marked off with twine and metal stakes. Volunteers divided into teams to work on each of the four beds. We began by filling each bed with 8 inches of top soil.
 |
| By Tracey Haynes |
 |
| By Fayetteville Partners for Better Housing |
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| By Tracey Haynes |
Then, we added four inches of beautiful compost from the city.
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| By Casey Willits |
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| By Tracey Haynes |
We finished up by spread mulch - also from the City - all around the beds.
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| By Fayetteville Partners For Better Housing |
The most wonderful thing about this especially wonderful day was the attitude everyone brought to the garden. This truly was a community effort; people from all walks of life came out because they wanted to help. Among the 70+ people who came to Dig Day were senior citizens, kids from Fayetteville High School's National Honors Society and Teen Leadership X-perience, UofA students, parents, teachers, and everyone in between, from all over Fayetteville. Greenhouse Grille donated a delicious spread of Greek food and Arsaga's Espresso Cafe donated coffee and water. One kind man even gave out free massages for our achy workers!
Dig Day was also the official beginning of registration for individual plots at the garden. About 20 of the 30 plots were claimed, but we still have 10 left! If you are interested in gardening with us this year, please email walkerparkcommunitygarden@gmail.com. And be sure to come to our meeting tomorrow, March 6th at 2pm at our newly constructed garden site, right next to the Fayetteville Senior Activity and Wellness Center.
Our Dig Day truly would not have been possible without the help from all of our volunteers and the generous support from Ozark Natural Foods. This day truly brought together this community, and it was fantastic.
 |
| Just a portion of our awesome volunteer crew! By Fayetteville Partners for Better Housing |
Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to make this event such a success.
-Andrea
Be sure to check out the Dig Day press!
20 February 2011
Documentary in the Works
Our garden is getting some exciting publicity!
Frou Gallagher is a Video Producer for the City of Fayetteville's Government Channel. In addition to maintaining a plot in the garden, Frou is creating an educational video about the Community Gardens In The Parks Program for the government channel. Walker Park is the first and only project of this city program, so Frou's documentary will primarily be about our garden.
In the words of Lisa Netherland, horticulturist for the city of Fayetteville and advisor of the program, "This video will be a valuable tool for supporting future community gardens in Fayetteville."
Check out Frou's latest work, featuring Walker Park Gardeners on the day we got our donation from Ozark Natural Foods!
And don't forget to RSVP to our facebook event and like us on facebook.
Also, props to the Fayetteville Community Garden Coalition's Seed Swap today. It was a wonderful event. A bunch of folks came out, shared seeds and insight and laughs about silly plant jokes (as in me) and Bean Mountain Farms gave a seed starting demonstration. Kudos to the event planners!
Today, at the Swap, a community member told Ryan and I that we're probably going to get more interested gardeners than we can handle. I sure hope so.
Andrea
Frou Gallagher is a Video Producer for the City of Fayetteville's Government Channel. In addition to maintaining a plot in the garden, Frou is creating an educational video about the Community Gardens In The Parks Program for the government channel. Walker Park is the first and only project of this city program, so Frou's documentary will primarily be about our garden.
In the words of Lisa Netherland, horticulturist for the city of Fayetteville and advisor of the program, "This video will be a valuable tool for supporting future community gardens in Fayetteville."
Check out Frou's latest work, featuring Walker Park Gardeners on the day we got our donation from Ozark Natural Foods!
And don't forget to RSVP to our facebook event and like us on facebook.
Also, props to the Fayetteville Community Garden Coalition's Seed Swap today. It was a wonderful event. A bunch of folks came out, shared seeds and insight and laughs about silly plant jokes (as in me) and Bean Mountain Farms gave a seed starting demonstration. Kudos to the event planners!
Today, at the Swap, a community member told Ryan and I that we're probably going to get more interested gardeners than we can handle. I sure hope so.
Andrea
15 February 2011
Dig Day!
The first work day for the Walker Park Community Garden is scheduled for Sunday, February 27th at 1 pm. We will be building our raised beds and officially open registration for garden plots.
We are inviting everyone in the community to come out and help us. Whether you are interested in tending a plot this year or just want to get your hands dirty, we would love to have you!
Because of a generous $500 donation from Ozark Natural Foods, we now have the funds to purchase our soil, sand, mulch, and some tools. But any shovels, wheelbarrows, and rakes that you could bring would be greatly appreciated!
This will be our "Ground Breaking" ceremony - our first work day as a group (although we won't be technically breaking the ground, just creating more of it). As someone who has seen this project through since the very beginning half a year ago, this is going to be a very, very exciting day.
Light refreshments will be served (but bringing extra water is always a good idea).
(And be sure to catch the Community Seed Swap the week before - February 20th at the Fayetteville Senior Activity and Wellness Center, next door to our garden site. Anyone can swap open-pollinated (heirloom, old-timey) seeds of food crops, herbs, or ornamentals. If you have no heirlooms, donate seed-envelopes, garden tools, or hybrid seeds while you mingle with gardeners, farmers, and seed savers. Also, local grower Herb Culver will give a workshop on 'Seed Starting' during the Swap.)
I hope to see you there!
Andrea
We are inviting everyone in the community to come out and help us. Whether you are interested in tending a plot this year or just want to get your hands dirty, we would love to have you!
Because of a generous $500 donation from Ozark Natural Foods, we now have the funds to purchase our soil, sand, mulch, and some tools. But any shovels, wheelbarrows, and rakes that you could bring would be greatly appreciated!
This will be our "Ground Breaking" ceremony - our first work day as a group (although we won't be technically breaking the ground, just creating more of it). As someone who has seen this project through since the very beginning half a year ago, this is going to be a very, very exciting day.
Light refreshments will be served (but bringing extra water is always a good idea).
(And be sure to catch the Community Seed Swap the week before - February 20th at the Fayetteville Senior Activity and Wellness Center, next door to our garden site. Anyone can swap open-pollinated (heirloom, old-timey) seeds of food crops, herbs, or ornamentals. If you have no heirlooms, donate seed-envelopes, garden tools, or hybrid seeds while you mingle with gardeners, farmers, and seed savers. Also, local grower Herb Culver will give a workshop on 'Seed Starting' during the Swap.)
I hope to see you there!
Andrea
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